ANOTHER problem... this time electric, any feedback would be greatly appreciated

[93v6firebird]

alright, installed the amp... BUT now it seems that the amp is drawing too much power (only 200W tho!!) so I'm driving down the highway and suddenly while the bass is turned up the lights DIM!!! all the lights on my dash come on then my steering and brakes are stiffened, the engine never cuts off and then I turn the amp system down, whne I push on the gas I get somewhat of the same symptoms when I push on the brakes some of hte same... turn it off... check connections, turn it on... nothing wrong... keep the system lower for the rest of the time and nothing happens... but the reason I dont think its the power drain is b/c it didnt happen at idle... just at that random time... any thoughts?

[strobhen]

Definitely losing a LOT of power there my man.

*ponder* get a song w/ a lot of bass on, turn on headlights & interior lights etc, play & see how it does.

If it doesn't seem to suck out power then, then I would guess something is wrong with either the amp or the wiring to it. Electronics can be freaky like that.

[v6maro]

nothing is wrong with the amp.

What your key givaway was is that your steering tightend up, what that means is this:
one winter far far ago, steve was doing donuts in a parking lot, steves belt flew off (the car)
;) and guess what? power steering went out, power everythign died.

My suggestion is, get a new alternator, thye go out ALL the time on the fbods, and from the sounds of it, yours will be kicking the can soon.
-Steve

[93v6firebird]

haha dude I dont like you...
j/k... I know I know but I just installed the amp today... problem started today...
well I'm gonna go out on the betlway and run the alternator hard by turning a bunch of stuff on besides the amp... and then idling it and seeing if anything happens... then I'm taking the alt to the shop to get it tested
any possibility the amp blew the hell out of the alt?

[93v6firebird]

AND the alternator was just replaced in June

[massivefirebird]

What I think is that you're clipping the amp.
Turning the gain too high could make your amp clip and the current draw on your alternator would get weird... I don't know about this one though...
Try taking your car to get your alternator tested. Some places do it for free(here, Sears does it free). If it's charging bad, you need a new one.

You want underdrive pulleys??? This won't help your problem... it'll make it worse.
[img]graemlins/burnout.gif[/img]
[img]graemlins/burnout.gif[/img]
[img]graemlins/burnout.gif[/img]

[93v6firebird]

I DID want pullies till I had this problem... LOL... well a crank pully wouldnt be too bad.. but who cares I dont want my car to freak out in traffic anymore thats my biggest concern...
explain clipping to me....and if there was clipping, wouldnt I notice distortion?

[ January 05, 2002: Message edited by: 93v6firebird ]</p>

[strobhen]

I don't think it is the alt...

Power steering went out because whatever was draining power was draining a LOT of power. When my battery died, car did the same thing, and power steering was one of the last things to go.

The alt is basically a spinning piece of metal [img]tongue.gif[/img] If it were going out, his problems would be more consistant.

I still think it is the amp, the wiring, or some other *electronic* problem. I would look at that before mechanical.

Load test isn't a bad idea, cheap & quick to do, but don't think that's it. [img]smile.gif[/img] I'm no mechanic tho, so I could be completely wrong.

Edit: Now that I think about it (and have been talking to him)
The amp has a 20 amp fuse. If it tried to draw more than that (which it would to cause the power loss he is seeing) the fuse would blow. So maybe something else? Short somewhere, dunno...

[ January 05, 2002: Message edited by: strobhen ]</p>

[massivefirebird]

My 300 watt amp used to make my lights flicker as well, especially when I brake, have head lights on, a/c, etc... Try a 1/2 farad capacitor, and be sure your gain on your amp set right.